Sergei Lavrov says, “NATO became bitter” when it could not take over Crimea

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov explained in an interview with the Mir channel why NATO decided to send relations with Moscow into the abyss…and it all had to do with the US Ukraine coup which failed to overtake the entire country including Crimea.

Lavrov said…

“NATO became bitter that its project aimed at bringing the entire Ukraine into its sphere of influence, making Ukraine part of the North Atlantic Alliance and using Crimea to encircle Russia fell through.”

Lavrov also said that NATO could not be compared with the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a defense organization comprising Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.

“The CSTO development strategy does not mention any country or organization as our adversary. In contrast, NATO members perceive Russia as an opponent or even a threat and attempt to downplay the status and the importance of CSTO activities.”

The Russian foreign minister criticized the “abnormal” situation when some Western politicians’ “politicized approach” toward ties with Russia had become more important than economic interests of their own countries and citizens.

“The trend to abandon this ‘abnormal’ approach, in my opinion, is getting stronger. Not everyone in the European Union is ready to accept this, and the so-called aggressive minority is making every effort to maintain its position and the common position of the European Union at the lowest point. Meanwhile, the principle of [European] solidarity should presuppose a search for consensus, a compromise between extremes.”

Lavrov noted that there are two positions in the EU: those who are categorically against any normalization of relations with Russia, and those who advocate a way out of the “sanctions deadlock.”

“We, I repeat, do not raise this issue and do not want to interfere in internal discussions, but we see how they really develop in the European Union,” Russia’s top diplomat concluded.